


Red Owl

by ThatOnePsycho



Category: Tokyo Ghoul, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Cannibalistic Thoughts, F/M, Ghoul Midoriya Izuku, Good Parent Midoriya Inko, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Midoriya Izuku is a Dork, Psychological Horror, Self-Esteem Issues, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:35:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24278212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOnePsycho/pseuds/ThatOnePsycho
Summary: To the average person, Izuku's Quirk looked like an amazing blend of all three classifications. To those close to him, they knew the cost of that often weighed heavily on the teen's mind, and left him feeling guilty. Human flesh wasn't easy to get, and the Hero-in-training known as Owl and the Vigilante Solitaire were one in the same.
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Eri & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Kirishima Touka
Comments: 49
Kudos: 211





	1. Chapter 1

Solitaire stood on the top of the half finished building in Nerima, breathing through the skull mask as he stalked his prey. It was getting harder, they were being more cautious, because of him. He'd been using Nerima for too long, four months. Maybe it was time for a change of location. Heroes didn't know where he was hunting at the point (Villains couldn't exactly walk into the police to report him, and he didn't leave evidence behind), but villains certainly did.

Watching the Villain vanish into the alleyway, Solitaire dropped behind him with a heavy thud, sending the man turning and raising a gun. Before he could move to fire it, he caught sight of the Vigilante's black coat, causing the villain to stagger back, "Th- the Grim Reaper!"

"I don't like that name," Solitaire purred softly, stretching his body like a serpent, joints cracking and popping as he did, He preferred to use hand to hand, that way the other him could use their true form without making the connection between them obvious, "I'm not anything of the sort, just another sinner."

"I'll shoot!" The man said desperately, waving the gun wildly.

"Oh, I believe you," Solitaire said, and then lunged forward, swinging a clawed hand forward and taking off the gun arm in one swoop. Before he could follow it up, something black exploded from the other arm and swung for Solitaire's throat. The monster flipped back, dodging the blade by the skin of his neck. Lunging forward, he swung his fist into the gut of the villain.

A third strike wasn't necessary as the fist tore through the flesh like chaff, coming out the other side soaked in gore.

"Y-you-"

"It's nothing personal," Solitaire said, lifting up his hand, "but I need to eat."

The blow took the head off roughly, the tearing of meat and sinew wetly squelching as bone snapped. Then Solitaire lifted the body up and picked up the head, staring into the blank eyes.

"Well, that isn't quite true. I don't like rapists."

Solitaire stood, lifting the much larger body as he began to make his way towards the tunnels that would lead him to his base of operations and then, later, home. The hunt had been sloppier tonight, quicker than normal, but it could be forgiven.

They had a big day tomorrow.

\--- X Katsuki X---

"So, you actually decided to show up?" Katsuki drawled, leaning against the wall surrounding UA as Izuku approached, "I was starting to think you chickened out on me, Nerd."

Izuku squirmed slightly, before saying, "We made a promise."

"And you cut it so close I thought you were gonna break that promise," Katsuki said, before raking his eyes up and down Izuku, noticing the rumpled clothes "Well, we should probably get in there."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded rapidly, rushing by Katsuki. Silently, the explosive blonde pulled out his phone and typed out a message.

_ He went out last night _ .

A minute later, the response came back from the other two members of their friend group close enough to 'know'.

_ Shit. _

_ You're sure? _

_ Yeah. You can yell at your boyfriend when we've passed. _

_ HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND. _

_ I'll keep an eye out for reports about Solitaire last night. _

"Kacchan?" Katsuki glanced up, meeting Izuku's eyes, "What's up?"

"Just talking with Touka and Hide," Katsuki said, "Let's go, Nerd."

\--- X  **Izuku** X---

Izuku crouched and slid off his shirt as he tried to ignore the guilt eating at him from what he had done last night. The man had been terrible, he had been sure of that from the moment they met, but… that hadn't made killing and eating him anymore right. Even if Izuku didn't  _ want _ to eat him, his Quirk didn't give him a choice. It was the only thing he could eat, and he had put it off for so long that… he didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't and then come to UA.

Warm bodies everywhere, tender and still with fat.

Yeah, it was better for Solitaire to go out than the other answer, which would end with him in Tartarus if he was lucky. Closing his eyes, Izuku breathed in as the liquid muscle pierced through the skin on his shoulders, writhing and spreading like a pair of red wings.

When he opened his eyes to the blue haired boy walking towards him, he watched the movement stop. Izuku stood, slowly and methodically cracking each finger as he went, then his elbows in a hyper flexing that caused the other boy to visibly wince, "Can I help you?"

"I was going to ask why you were stripping yourself of your shirt," the boy said, adjusting his glasses as Izuku began to crack his back and neck, continuing to wince, "but I can see why. I'll leave you to get ready!"

Izuku cracked a grin, glancing up at Present Mic with blood red irises surrounded by black scalea and equally red veins. Then the Pro Hero waved, "Go! Go! There's no countdowns in real life!"

Izuku took off, rushing around the pack and pulling his wings around his arms as the first robot approached him. Kicking off, Izuku swung his left wing and arm, the cells around the edge hardening to a crystal state. The robot's head fell in two separate parts as Izuku swung the other arm at a second robot, firing shards of crystalline cells at it and watching it tip back and jumping off the robot, rushing to find some more 'villains' to rack up the points. He had a bet with Touka to win, after all…

He wondered how she was doing? 

Eh, did it really matter at the moment? He had robots to destroy, and that meant he could cut loose!

Izuku chuckled, rushing towards a pair of three robots and flowing from one strike to another, each one dropping as his blood began pumping.

At least it was something he could fight, and destroy, without feeling guilty!

\--- X  **Touka** X---

Touka drove a foot into the head of the robot, electricity crackling down her leg and through the circuits, frying them and sending smoke rising. Kicking off and towards the next on, she briefly imagined it was a green haired dork with green eyes… before taking off the head in an explosion of sparks.

That  _ stupid dumbass _ ! What was he thinking, going out without telling them? Was he trying to get himself killed, or worse, locked up in Tartarus for the rest of his damn life? Did he realize what that would do to Hide? To  _ her _ , to get a loved one chucked in that hellhole while her dad was still living his sentence?

No, of course he didn't, it was just 'oops, it's that time of the month (note to self: never use that terminology for Izuku's cannibalistic diet again), better go find a criminal!' Because he was a raging dumbass when it came to these things. And she was going to lay into him about it when they got home.

Because she might not get along with Bakugo, but he had known the secret longer than anyone, so if he thought Izuku had gone out hunting, he had  _ sure as hell _ gone out hunting. And even more obnoxiously,  _ he had stood her up for the last study session before the entrance exam to do it _ . UA had a stupidly low acceptance rate, and Touka had never been the best of their friend group at school work. 

Touka pushed that thought aside, landing on another robot and sending electricity crackling down her body and into the face as she latched on. She'd just have to get enough points here to make it worth adding her to the Hero Course. She had to, because then she might be able to stop A-

Touka twisted, dodging the bullets from the next robot until she saw them spark with electricity. Then she stepped into them, wincing as the pain came even as her Quirk amped up her body. Throwing herself forward, Touka gave a heavy kick that arced with lightning, taking out the robot before continuing on. There was a purple haired boy holding a sign post as a rudimentary spear.

"Go for the joints," she advised, red lightning crackling around her, "That's where they're weakest."

"I-!" The boy started, before nodding, "Thanks."

"We're competing right now," Touka said, "so don't thank me yet."

Then she was off, towards the next robot, a three pointer. This was it, she had to succeed here.

She  _ had _ to become a hero, for her dad.

\--- X  **Shouta** X---

Shouta watched the screens showing the students, frowning before Snipe essentially said what he was thinking, "Looks like we got some real spitfires this year, eh?"

If that's what you called a boy who caused explosions with his bare hands, a girl who absorbed electricity and then let it out to enhance her body and a boy who created wing-like appendages that he used like blades to cleave through the bots as he fell on them like a bird, fired as a series of flechette strong enough to rip through the armored plating or as a shield to block rounds. None of the powers were that impressive on paper, but with how well they were using them…

This was one of those rare cases, in Shouta's opinion, that the exam was giving a  _ very _ accurate image of three of their soon to be students. They knew how to use their Quirks, they were athletic, or at least the girl and green haired boy were given the twists and spins they used to give their attacks more momentum.

He'd still test them, day one, but he could already tell by the way they moved that they would pass the tests with ease… assuming, of course, that they weren't completely useless without their Quirks, since they all seemed to be Emitter or Transformation types.

And they were far from the only ones making good impressions. There was a girl who could grow her hands large enough to bat away the smaller bots, a boy who had turned into a giant beast to rip the robots apart, another who was trapping the bots with sticky balls and leaving them for others to finish (thus wracking up a larger number of points then he probably had a right to, if Shouta was honest), yet another who had welded several robots to the walls and the ground and another girl who wrapped them in vines.. Those three would make decent capture heroes, he could tell.

Many of the students were passable, the white haired girl who used telekinetic powers to lift up poles and send them flying through the bots, the soon of the Iida family, fresh off a slightly wince worthy failure at the recommendations (not that Shouta could blame him. The recommendation students this year had been absolute  _ monsters _ in power), the boy with tape dispensers in his elbows. They were standing out in the pack… but at UA, that was the bare minimum for success in the Hero Course. You had to go Further Beyond, and be ahead of the pack to be really worth it in Shouta's eyes.

And it was going to take the crucible of fire that was UA's training to bring that out or see you drop out. Despite Shouta's… reputation as being a bit trigger happy with the expulsion (something he was sure Hizashi was gonna harp on him about again), the truth was many people couldn't handle the strain of UA's hero course, and decided to move down to general studies on their own. Shouta was just normally very good at calling which students it would happen to beforehand.

More than half the students he readmitted ended up transferring before the first school year was up. But this year… he wouldn't admit it aloud, but he had a good feeling about this year's students. Even the ones he felt were only barely holding on, like the mohawked boy, might be able to take the strain.

\--- X Izuku X---

Izuku hid the exhausted grimace as he continued through the fight. He needed to stop firing off 'feathers' because, and there was no denying it, he was running low on RC cells, the unique cells his body generated over time and… after he ate.

Still, it couldn't be too much longer before they ended the exam. Even with the time dilation that came with the rush of fighting, he could tell they had been doing this for a while.

Should he swap which ones he was using for the ones around his spine for the rest? They used less cells, but the energy to bring them out…

No, he'd just stick to his wings for now. It could only be a few more minutes now, and he'd just keep to close combat. That's all-

A loud, sharp buzz filled the air, sending Izuku reeling slightly before he glanced back, watching a giant robot descend towards the testing area. That… was a problem he  _ wasn't _ going to deal with. He'd prefer his reckoning not come from a multistory robot, if he was honest.

Turning, he rushed in the opposite direction of the robot, picking up the stunned white haired girl and brown haired girl with hair like a mushroom. That wasn't worth getting a few extra points.

\--- X Touka X---

Touka watched the Zero Point robot rocket up, staring up with wide eyes, though only one was easily visible. This school was  _ insane _ ...

Before she could do anything more than grab a nearby streetlamp and drain electricity from it to amp herself up to run away from the lumbering robot, she stopped, "Help! Please, I- my legs are stuck!"

_ Motherfucker _ . 

Touka weighed her options for a second, sucking on her teeth before heading towards the girl calling for help. That's what a hero would do, right?

Landing, she watched the brown haired girl struggling with the rubble around her. She was tapping pieces and sending them floating, pushing them away from her. Well, that was lucky at least.

"Focus on getting them off of you," Touka said, grabbing the pieces and throwing them away, "I'll move them."

The girl nodded, and they began the process of freeing her from the rubble.

\--- X AN X--

Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, funny story, we were supposed to reach UA in this chapter but, well, shit happens and we instead get this.

  
  
  


\--- X  **Izuku** X---

  
  
  


"So…" Izuku winced at the word. He knew that tone, that wasn't the tone Touka used when she had anything good to say to Izuku. This was the cold, aloof tone she used when Izuku was, frankly, in the doghouse, "You went out last night."

  
  
  


"Sorry?" Izuku said, well aware that that wasn't going to cut it. Sweat began to pool around the edge of his hairline. Hell hath no fury like Touka in a bad mood, he had learned that a long time ago. And he had definitely put her in a bad mood, if the literal sparks crackling around her and the proverbial bullets firing from her eyes said anything.

  
  
  


"Do you want to explain  _ why _ you thought that was a good idea, before I drag you down to the training room and beat the crap out of you for it?"

  
  
  


Oh, he was in so,  _ so _ much trouble, "I… I went for a walk yesterday."

  
  
  


"I don't think a trip into Tokyo through the tunnels counts as a walk," Touka deadpanned. Yeah, he was so, so screwed.

  
  
  


"No," Izuku shook his head, "I mean-"

  
  
  


"What's wrong?" Izuku locked up at his mother's voice, turning. Inko was standing in the doorway, holding a mug of black coffee and a water bottle on a metal tray. Oh, dear sweet…

  
  
  


"He," Touka spat the word, jabbing a finger towards him. One Izuku certainly didn't recoil away from like a live snake, "was in Tokyo last night."

  
  
  


In many ways, the disappointed sigh and exhausted look Inko gave him hurt more than any barb Touka could throw his way. She put down the drinks, sitting down and reaching out to run her hand through Izuku's hair, "What happened?"

  
  
  


"I went for a walk yesterday," Izuku started again, leaning into the touch, "and… I passed by the park. There was a class of kids there, I'm not sure how old they were, but it was… it was twenty, maybe thirty kids, seven or eight years old and… and… and I was…"

  
  
  


"You were hungry," Inko finished for him, softly.

  
  
  


"I didn't want to be," Izuku's voice cracked as tears began to pour down his face, "What kind of hero looks at kids playing and thinks 'I want to eat  _ that _ '? Not 'them'  _ that _ ! Like they're nothing but food."

  
  
  


"One trying to be a hero despite the hand he was dealt," Inko said, pushing the coffee into his hands, "So that caused you to go into Tokyo"

  
  
  


"It was… I started thinking," Izuku said, tears continuing to flow at a steady pace, "if I acted that way about a couple dozen kids, how was I going to react today, surrounded by hundreds or more of them? How was I going to keep myself from going on a rampage, especially if I ended up burning a lot of RC cells and… and I just… I decided…"

  
  
  


"It was better for you to eat then instead of lose control at UA," Touka said with a sigh, unscrewing her water bottle and sipping from it, "You could have at least called me so I wasn't sitting around wondering why you didn't show up until I kicked down the door to your room and-"

  
  
  


"Hey~!" With perfect timing, Hide threw open the door to Touka's room with a wave, "I got here- why's Izuku crying this time?"

  
  
  


"He's having a panic attack over his actions last night," Inko said standing up and running her hand through Izuku's hair one last time, "I need to go back to the shop, can you two take care of him?"

  
  
  


"Yeah," Hide nodded, throwing himself down next to Izuku and latching an arm around his shoulder. Izuku inhaled, the flat, dead smell coming from their Quirkless friend briefly killing the delicious one from Touka and Inko, "You know us, Mama Inko, we're always here to keep Izuku from getting too kicked bird-y. I actually wanted to try something I saw in a news report!"

  
  
  


"Why do I get the feeling," Izuku said, rubbing his wet eyes, "That whatever you saw is gonna end with one of us in pain?"

  
  
  


"Because it always does?" Touka said, before hesitating, "Hey, just… next time you go to do something like that… warn us first, alright? We worry about you."

  
  
  


"And she admits it!" Hide said, "never thought I'd see the day-!"

  
  
  


Touka made a rude gesture towards the sandy haired boy.

  
  
  


\--- X  **Touka** X---

  
  
  


_ Touka sat in the back of her Uncle's car, silently glaring out the window, next to her, Ayato did the same. Uncle Renji stopped the car in the line of cars leading up to the school, his white hair swaying as he turned to look at them, "Look, I know this isn't what any of us wanted… but you're here now. We can't change what happened." _

  
  
  


_ Touka didn't say anything, just continuing to glare at the school as the line of cars moved. Finally, Uncle Renji continued to talk, "It's… I know it's not easy. I do, Hikari pretty much raised m-" _

  
  
  


_ "So what Dad did was wrong?" Touka asked, voice dripping with something she didn't have words for, but she had felt a lot in the three weeks since everything had gone wrong. _

  
  
  


_ "..." Uncle Renji didn't answer for a long moment, "It's not my place to make that decision, Touka." _

  
  
  


_ "I want you to!" The eight year old snapped. _

  
  
  


_ "I  _ **_CAN'T_ ** _ ," Uncle Renji slammed his hand angrily against the horn, wincing and pulling it off like it was burning hot, "I can't, Touka. The police decided Arata's actions were wrong, and I can't change that." _

  
  
  


_ "Because you'd fall in the polls?" Touka said. _

  
  
  


_ "Because I have two kids to take care of!" Uncle Renji said with a snarl, before breathing in, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have raised my voice. Things are…. They're complicated at work. You should get to class, you both have the room numbers?" _

  
  
  


_ Both kids nodded, and Uncle Renji unlocked the child safety locks to let them out as he slid on a bluetooth headset, "Uta? Yeah, I need to le-" _

  
  
  


_ Touka watched the car pull away, fists clenched. Stupid grownups, "Come on, I'll help you-" _

  
  
  


_ "I don't need your help," Ayato said, walking towards the front of the school. Touka followed behind, just to be safe, and once she was sure he found his classroom, went to her own.  _

  
  
  


_ She knocked on the door, waiting to be let in and staring at all the other students blankly. Finally, she gave a stiff half bow, "My name is Kirishima Touka, it's nice to meet you." _

  
  
  


_ She doubted anyone there believed it for a second. She wasn't happy she had to leave her friends, she wasn't happy she had to come to a new school and- _

  
  
  


_ "It's nice to meet you too," Touka glanced up at the boy with blood red eyes surrounded by black… what was the white of the eye called? Those, shaded by a mop of green-black hair. He offered her a shy smile, "I'm Midoriya Izuku. And this," he gestured to a boy with a lighter shade of red eyes and an explosion of blonde hair, "Is Bakugo Katsuki. Say hi, Kacchan." _

  
  
  


_ 'Kacchan' grunted, looking unhappy. _

  
  
  


_ "And I," a boy with orange-ish hair in the back stood up, waving, "am Nagachika Hideyoshi! But you can call me Hide, everyone does." _

  
  
  


_ Touka couldn't help the honest smile that came across her face as she looked between the two. They seemed nice… _

  
  
  


\--- X  **Touka** X---

  
  
  


Kirishima Touka wasn't a sadist. She liked a good fight on occasion, but she wasn't one tor senseless violence for the sake of it. On that note, it was completely and utterly  _ hilarious _ to see Izuku's arm spasm from the shock baton Hide had just hit him with, causing him to inadvertently backhand the other teen and send him flying across the Cave. Which, in Touka's opinion, was more evidence to the theory that even 'Quirkless' people were now more resilient than they had been before the genesis of Quirks. Because Tauka had seen Izuku flip cars before (admittedly, with both hands) and that blow probably should have killed Hide.

  
  
  


Or who knew, maybe Hide had a latent Quirk or something. One that hadn't manifested yet for some reason. Either way, Hide popped up a second later, grabbing the baton and drawing the small pistol from his side. A diode flew from it, sharp and spitting electricity… and Izuku didn't even bother wasting energy blocking them, letting them hit his skin and bounce off. When Hide came rushing forward in the next few seconds, replacing the gun with a second baton, it looked like a parent playing their child.

  
  
  


Not in height, if there was an inch between the two it wasn't easily noticeable. But Izuku stepped around each attack, practically dancing as he did so, and it was abundantly clear that the only reason Hide had landed that first blow is because he had attacked from behind, while Izuku's guard was down.

  
  
  


And Izuku hadn't released his Kagune yet. Hadn't even done anything to harm Hide on purpose. He was just letting Hide practice fighting a stronger, faster and tougher opponent. Something Hide was going to need a lot of practice in if he was going to win his way into the Hero Course during the Sport's Festival.

  
  
  


Touka let her eyes leave Izuku and Hide, knowing the 'spar', if it could be generously called that, would continue until Hide used a dirty enough tactic to land another blow or, more likely, Izuku decided the Quirkless teen had tired himself out too much and stopped the spar. Instead, she settled on looking around the Cave.

  
  
  


Despite the name, it wasn't that impressive, not anything like the bases you saw in pre-quirk comics and movies. It had been, they suspected, a planned subway into Tokyo from  _ before _ . Before Meta Abilities appeared for the first time and plunged Japan into chaos, before the Hero with a Hundred Powers managed to slow the chaos and then vanished, before Meta Abilities became Quirks and Vigilantes were replaced with Pro Heroes.

  
  
  


Back then, before UA had been built, it probably seemed inevitable that Mustafu would eventually merge with Tokyo, like Hosu, Naruhata and Kiyashi before it. But when things fell apart, a lot of projects were forgotten. Some, like this one, had been fairly close to being finished. Touka wasn't sure if the Roost had been built over it deliberately, or by pure coincidence.

  
  
  


Tokyo itself was ever worse, as villains with powers to manipulate dirt and concrete had carved out a maze under the twenty six Wards to get around or go to ground when the heat from the police became too much. Izuku used it more frequently than most since his enhanced senses let him navigate it with ease, and from what he said, it was a miserable place.

  
  
  


"Izuku?" Touka called. The boy caught Hide's hands, one razor-scaled tentacle launching over his shoulder and stopped just before the concrete in a clear warning to Hide that the fight was done, "Did you hear anything about Ayato when you were in Tokyo?"

  
  
  


"I would have told you right away," Izuku said, pulling his Kagune back into his skin and stepping away from Hide to sit next to her, hesitating before Touka leaned towards him slightly, giving him silent permission to wrap his arm around her shoulders, "You know that, right?"

  
  
  


"It doesn't hurt to ask in case it slipped your mind," Touka said.

  
  
  


"I was in a rush yesterday," Izuku said, "So I didn't really look, we'll find him. I promise."

  
  
  


"I hope so," Touka said, before grabbing Izuku by his arm and throwing him over Hide, jumping up and stretching to limber up. Izuku landed like a cat, kakugan flaring to life as he stared at her, "Come on, let's get some practice in before dinner."

  
  
  


\--- X  **Katsuki** X---

  
  
  


Between Hide, Touka and himself, Bakugo Katsuki could easily finger the person most uncomfortable about Izuku. Mostly because it was himself, and he knew it well. He had been the first person outside of Aunt Inko and Uncle Hisashi to find out about what Izuku did. 

  
  
  


He got it, which is why he kept his mouth shut and didn't tell anyone who didn't know. Izuku had been played a shitty hand, and was doing everything he could to fight against it. But that didn't mean it wasn't worrying at times.

  
  
  


He wasn't sure if he was the only one who remembered when Izuku hadn't had enough control to keep his crazy eyes, his 'kakugan' as Hide had named it after watching too many anime, off. But man, had that been a fucking creepy time. And then… and then there was the time he'd gone missing for a week after… after the Shit had disappeared. That was when people started noticing Solitaire, as he had temporarily abandoned all of the subtlety he worked with. And when he had returned, he had spent the month brooding for a reason he had only ever confided in Katsuki, as far as the explosive blond knew.

  
  
  


_ "I lost the scent in Naruhata," Izuku muttered to him as they walked to school, skin having become wan since since they had last seen each other and his hair had been shaven after Auntie Inko had decided it was too knotted to hope to free. _

  
  
  


_ "What's that mean?" Katsuki asked back. _

  
  
  


_ "I can't say," Izuku said, red eyes jumping around. At Katsuki's snort, he glanced back, "No, I'm serious. I can't say. The best case scenario is that he's gone out of his way to ditch anything that I could use to track him." _

  
  
  


_ "And the worst case?" Katsuki prompted. _

  
  
  


_ "I don't want to talk about it." _

  
  
  


_ "Yeah, but I need to hear you say it," Katsuki said, "because if it's the fucking thing I'm pretty sure you mean, we're going to have to deal with it sooner or later." _

  
  
  


_ "...Worst case scenario," Izuku said, "is that Ayato's dead." _

  
  
  


Katsuki watched the list of names of the applicants to UA scroll, growling in good natured annoyance. Three points.

  
  
  


Three. Fucking. Points.

  
  
  


Izuku had beaten him by  _ three points _ because he had stopped to help someone. And he didn't know what was more galling, the fact that he was so close to winning or tying with the other teen… or the fact that he  _ knew  _ Izuku had started off fatigued from the night before.

  
  
  


He pulled out his phone, typing a message.

  
  
  


_ So, we having cake to celebrate? _

  
  
  


It was Touka who responded first.

  
  
  


_ Wow, that's a special level of petty _ .

  
  
  


Izuku responded immediately after. 

  
  
  


_ Mom'll make one for you guys. I'll have some coffee instead. See you in a couple of hours? _

  
  
  


Fuckin' Nerd with his weaponized politeness.

  
  
  


_ Yeah, see you then. _

  
  
  


\--- X  **Solitare** X---

  
  
  


_ Solitaire was a-hungry. And more importantly, he was  _ **_angry_ ** _. The scent was dead, the  _ **_scent was DEAD_ ** _! The people below, they had ruined everything, how was he supposed to go back to Touka without Ayato!? _

  
  
  


_ The scent was dead, the scent was dead, the SCENT WAS DEAD! Had Ayato doubled back to throw him off? Was he still in the building? Was he- _

  
  
  


_ No, NO! He wasn't, he couldn't be! _

  
  
  


_ Solitaire stood up, mind ping ponging as he growled and gnashed his teeth. He had to get in there, if there was any sign of Ayato, it would be in there. But it wasn't that easy, he was staring at a three way warzone between the Vigilantes of this Ward, police and Pro Heroes, and the Villain Factory. But he had to get in there. _

  
  
  


_ Eyes landing on a car, Solitaire dropped and wrapped his hands around the bumper. He couldn't get in through the entrances, the Villain Factory and Pros were fighting over it. Which meant he was going to have to make a way. _

  
  
  


_ With a clicking growl, Solitaire threw the car, sending it smashing through the wall and charged forwards through the hole it had made. Only to be greeted by a pair of villains standing away from the hole. One was a girl with tanned skin and makeup, one eye covered by her pink hair. The other was a man with slightly purple skin, long hair in a ponytail and a scar across his face.  _

  
  
  


_ "I was wondering how long before you moved," the girl said, "I almost thought you weren't going to do anything. O'Clock, I'm going to deal with Kōichi. Deal with this… pest." _

  
  
  


_ "Don't order me around," O'Clock said, but stepped towards Solitaire. The next thing the black coated Vigilante knew, he was curled around a fist, his empty stomach protesting the punch. Then, O'Clock was behind him, slamming his elbow into Solitaire's spine and sending him staggering forward. For a single moment, Solitaire considered releasing his kagune, before abandoning that idea. Instead, he growled low and long, turning towards O'Clock and let out a haymaker that missed as the villain dodged. _

  
  
  


_ He was hungry, there were too many scents, he couldn't find Ayato. The scent was dead, even in here. If the boy had been here, he was gone now. He'd have to pick up the hunt at some other point, but by then the scent would be even colder. It'd be even harder to find him. _

  
  
  


_ "I'm…" Midorya Izuku growled around his mask, glaring at O'Clock. Hero Journal Six, page twenty… after a certain amount of time, the original O'Clock's Quirk timed out. If this one's Quirk acted the same way, that was when he would be able to hit him. _

  
  
  


_ Crack. _

  
  
  


_ Crack. _

  
  
  


_ Crack. Crack. Crack. Crackcrackcrack. _

  
  
  


_ "I'm hungry." _

  
  
  


_ \---X  _ **_O’Clock_ ** _ X--- _

  
  
  


_ O'Clock watched the skull masked boy crack every finger. From around the mask, a voice growled out, low and erratic, "I'm hungry." _

  
  
  


_ What was that supposed to mean? He was hungry? That- _

  
  
  


_ O'Clock dodged the frenzied lunge and clawing strikes with ease. Activating his Quirk, he drove a fist into the sternum so hard he heard bones crack and the boy staggered back with a growl, coiling around the injury, "You're just a wild animal, aren't you? If someone is faster than you are, there's nothing you can do. I've got better things to do, so I'll wrap this up quickly. Instant Eight!" _

  
  
  


_ Time seemed to grind to a stop, the distant sound of gunfire and the howling buzzing of Kuin's bees went silent. O'Clock stepped forward before unleashing a series of punches across the body. Two to the kidneys, one to the lower jaw, shattering the part of the mask there, another two to each side of the ribcage, one to the neck, another to the groin and finally a second to the sternum just before time resumed.  _

  
  
  


_ The boy doubled over around the fist as the punches took effect, coughing up some blood as his chin landed on O'Clock's shoulder. He opened his mouth, and O'Clock leaned in with a smirk, "Oh, going to give me some last wor-?" _

  
  
  


_ "I'm hun-gry," the boy said each syllable separately, methodically, and then lashed forward. Something hot and wet enclosed O'Clock's ear before pain came from where it connected to the rest of his head. Reaching up while the boy staggered away, chewing, he brought his hand back to stare at the blood pouring from the hole where his ear had been. A loud gulp came from the boy, before he continued, "You taste  _ **_disgusting_ ** _." _

  
  
  


_ "You," O'Clock growled, rushing forwards, "You-!" _

  
  
  


_ It was only his Quirk that let him dodge the incredibly fast punch that came for his chest, and even then it grazed him and sent him staggering. Bomber cells grew across his knuckles as time ground to a halt again. Eight more punches hammered home, each detonating as the skin of his hands rapidly regrew, "Explosive Eight!" _

  
  
  


_ And as time resumed, blood flew out of the boy like a higanbana… masking the tentacle that punched through O'Clock's gut and retracted in the next second, the words that came from the bloodied lips chilling him as the injuries he had dealt visibly healed, "You're coming with me." _

  
  
  


_ \---X  _ **_Solitaire_ ** _ X--- _

  
  
  


_ Solitaire dragged the purple skinned man into the tunnels below Tokyo, keeping one ear out of the sound of someone giving chase in case the Heroes had seen him and assumed he was extracting O'Clock and, when he was certain there wasn't stopped and threw him onto the ground. The foul taste on his mouth made him reconsider what he was about to do, if only for a moment. _

  
  
  


_ Then he reached up, pulling off his mask and dropping it, "Don't bother calling for help. People down here learn to keep their noses clean quickly." _

  
  
  


_ O'Clock paled as much as his skin tone would allow him to, scrambling back as Solitaire stepped forward. They both knew that if he was willing to let O'Clock see his face, there was little chance of them both walking out of this alive. O'Clock jumped up, rushing at Solitaire, "Explosive-!" _

  
  
  


_ One Kagune pierced his leg, dropping him and sending him sliding across the ground. It pulled back, the monster impaled O'Clock through the gut, "If it didn't work the first time, what made you think it would work the second?" _

  
  
  


_ O'Clock gasped, the light fading from his eyes. Letting the villain drop, Solitaire lunged down, latching his teeth around O'Clock's throat, he ripped it out and swallowed it in a whirlwind of gnashing teeth, gulping down the equally foul blood that came out after in a frenzied move to slake his thirst. O'Clock struggled for a few seconds, before the bloodlose became too much. It tasted terrible, rancid, even, but he could feel his wounds stitching shut and energy coursing through his veins. More, he needed  _ **_more_ ** _. _

  
  
  


_ Solitaire moved down, ripping off O'Clock's shirt and tearing flesh from his chest in long strips, his teeth sinking through the tightly packed muscle and scraping bone as he did so. Once he'd removed enough, he used his hands to shatter the ribcage and attacked the organs within. Blood caked his face as he went at them, eating the heart in three bites.  _

  
  


_ It was so disgusting, but it was giving him more energy than he'd ever gotten from normal people. Why? _

  
  


_ Why? _

  
  


_ And how did he get more? _

  
  
  


\---X  **Izuku** X---

  
  
  


Izuku stepped into the building, not even stopping as he walked to a particular tarp and pulled it down, "You know I can smell you, right?"

  
  
  


"You're no fun, Jester," Uta pouted, his upper face shifting like wax for a second before landing on the default appearance he used when talking to Izuku, a copy of the teen's kakugan. The man stood up, brushing his sidecut out of the way 

  
  
  


"Sorry," Izuku said.

  
  
  


"No you aren't," Uta said, "and don't pretend you are. I take it you're here to commission an outfit for UA?"

  
  
  


"News travels fast," Izuku commented idlely.

  
  
  


"Renji was quite proud of you two," Uta responded, "may I see the design?"

  
  
  


Izuku handed it over, and Uta took a single glance at it, "Can you do it?"

  
  
  


"If it's physically possible to make an outfit," Uta said, "I can make it. And this one is definitely physically possible. I'll have it done in two weeks."

  
  
  


"Thanks, Uta," Izuku said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

  
  
  


"You would have, without a doubt, been caught years ago," Uta said, perhaps a bit smugly.

  
  
  


Izuku couldn't refute the statement.

  
  
  


\--- X  **AN** X---

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It ain't Tokyo Ghoul without a coffee shop, so I proudly introduce The Roost. Other than that, I kinda consider this the Touka chapter. Problems from her childhood and family situation stains the entirety of the chapter in various ways.
> 
> Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?


	3. Chapter 3

Izuku threw the last few things into his backpack, sliding out of his room to Touka doing the same. Izuku nodded to her, and they both rushed downstairs and into the Roost proper. Inko held out a pair of travel mugs, and Izuku grabbed his before giving his mom a quick hug and continuing on. They weren't late far from it, the bell for homeroom wouldn't ring for another hour, but they didn't want to risk it on the first day at UA.

They slid onto the train, grabbing onto the handrails next to Hide as he grinned at them, "Ready for this?"

"No," Izuku said, breathing in the scent of his friends. But he had to, Solitaire was a problem and he needed to make it right.

"Well too bad," Hide said, "We've got two stops before UA, so get ready, Izuku."

Izuku nodded, tightening his grip on the black coffee and feeling his kakuhou shift beneath his skin. He could do this, he'd have Touka and Kacchan there, and Hide was going to be in the building too. This was it, the starting line. This was here Midoriya Izuku became a hero to make up for what the monster named Solitaire did.

Izuku's eyes locked onto the building in the distance as he drank a bit of the coffee. Mom had added a bit of blood to it this time, another calming part… though he'd need to make sure nobody else drank it to notice the after taste.

"We're ready for this," Touka said, touching his shoulder and squeezing it, "We've trained for years, we're ready for it."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, swallowed to wet his dry mouth. Yeah.

\--- X Izuku X---

That confidence lasted him right up until he was standing in front of the massive door leading to class 1-A. At that point, Izuku was hoping from one foot to another, compulsively cracking his bones and hyper flexing the joints in ways that only a trained contortionist, or someone with a Quirk that immediately healed the damage, could. Izuku liked to think he was both, having mastered the art of dodging over his career as a vigilante. 

What was he thinking? He was a vigilante with a small  _ Taskforce _ set up to find him, and he decided to go to  _ UA _ of all places!? What had he been thinking?

Izuku felt his kakuhou pressing against the tissue of his skin, ready to pierce through at a moment's notice as he entered 'combat mode'. It wasn't too late, he could run and just dedicate his life to Solitaire, working in the Roost by day. It'd be-

"Hey," Izuku stopped as Touka's hand landed on his shoulder, squeezed it as tight as she could, "Calm down. If anyone deserves to be here, it's you, Mister Number One."

Izuku swallowed, mouth dry and he nodded, slowly reaching up to touch the hand. Taking one last breath of Touka's scent, masked under her shampoo but still perfectly sharp and impossible for Izuku to identify other than 'Touka'. Something he only expects with her and his mom.

Hide smelled flat, nothing appealing but nothing disgusting, he just existed. Kacchan smelled like the aftermath of an explosion, smoke and ash in equal measure covering the burnt sugar. Yomo smelled like ozone, burning the air when he was around. Itori of the alcohols she used her Quirk to cultivate and Uta smelled of latex and the bite of metal. All, except Uta and Hide, appealing in their own way.

But Izuku had never been able to place Touka's scent. There was the same tinge of ozone as Yomo, but something else, something more something so distinctly  _ Touka _ that he'd never been able to place it, and even if he came across it in the environment, he'd probably recognize it as Touka first and whatever it actually was second.

And with that last breath, he pulled open the door and breathed deep the scent of his new classmates.

The first to hit him, and by proxy the closest to the door, was the sharp smell of acid, then another burning of ozone, several REALLY unappealing smells (must be Heteromorphic) and finally-

"-Stick up your ass!"

...Kacchan. 

Izuku's eyes flickered open as he stared at Katsuki antagonizing the blue haired boy from the Entrance Exam. Before he could say anything to stop his childhood friend, a voice came from the side, "Oh, hey! You're the one who helped me during the Entrance Exam!"

Izuku glanced over at the chestnut haired girl in confusion, since he had never seen her before, only to realize she was talking to Touka a second later. Touka shifted awkwardly, before waving, "Hi."

"Hello!" The girl said, "I'm Uraraka Ochako! What's your name?"

"I'm Kirishima Touka," Touka said as something caught Izuku's attention, a shuffling from down the hall. Izuku glanced over, eyes widening before he span in place, "and this is- Izuku!?"

Izuku swung a foot at the approaching man, who rolled out of the way of the kick and stood up in his sleeping bag, Izuku rushed towards him as the cocoon unzipped and let him lash out and twist Izuku's arm around his back. Izuku growled, before dislocating the arm and kicking for the man in a roundhouse kick that the man dodged. Izuku slammed his arm into the wall, popping it back into the socket and letting his Quirk heal the damage that would have taken a normal person weeks to recover from in seconds. It wasn't the first time he had done that. Touka's hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him from moving towards the black clad man.

"You're gonna be a problem child," the man deadpanned, "I can tell. As for the rest of you, this is the hero course, if you're here to socialize, I suggest dropping out now. I'm Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher. Get to the locker rooms down the hall and change into the gym uniforms waiting there, we have tests to do and not much time to do them."

\--- X Shouta X---

Shouta watched his class out of the corner of his eye, more particularly, Midoriya. He wasn't the first person who had caught Shouta's approach, it had happened a handful of times over his teaching career… but it was one of the only times he had been attacked for it, and it  _ definitely _ was the first time he had seen a student dislocate and then violently reduce it to get out of a hold. Other than a few rotations of the arm, looking more like he was stretching it than anything, the new student didn't show any sign doing so had left any damage that would require Recovery Girl.

Good instincts, if a bit strange in reaction, but if he was honest he had seen stranger reactions. Grown teens shrieking like banshees, a girl launching spines from her skin on instinct and ended with half the class having to see Recovery Girl. An actual attack was strange, but not too strange.

Besides, he hadn't used Binding Cloth Style, hadn't felt pressed to. Things would have gone much differently if he had.

"Midoriya," Shouta drawled, drawing the boy's attention, "What was your record for a softball throw in middle school?"

"Two hundred meters," Midoriya said, shrugging at the looks he got, "I'm Heteromorphic with an enhanced biology, sir."

"Still, something tells me you could do better if given the chance," Shouta said, holding up a softball, "Step into the circle and use your Quirk to send this flying as far as you can. You can do whatever you want, so long as you don't leave the circle."

"Ok," Midoriya said quietly, taking the ball and bowing, "I'm sorry about attacking you. I have a friend who likes to start training sessions by sneak attacking me so-"

"Villains aren't going to give you the courtesy of attacking you from the front half the time, Midoriya," Shouta advised, "I don't normally get someone ready for that right out of the gate in my class, it's a refreshing change of pace. Now, throw the ball."

Midoriya nodded, a strange look on his face before he turned and walked into the circle, shrugging off his gym shirt and cracking his finger and then his arm in a massive hyperflexing with closed eyes. The kid was flexible, that meant he was probably better at hit and run tactics than a straight up fight. Not that he was bad at those, going by the entrance exam.

Out of his lower back sprouted a long, segmented appendage of red scales, though where the segments were rapidly changed. Shouta briefly activated Erasure, only for the limb to continue. Guess since it was part of his body and not doing anything special, his Quirk wouldn't work on it. He'd probably be able to stop that crystallization trick though.

The limb wrapped around the ball, holding it tightly before Midoriya bounded into the air, turning so his entire body was parallel with the ground as he hit the height of a second story building. His eyes snapped open suddenly, the sclera pure black and irises a nearly neon red as light bounced off them like a cat's at night. He span as he approached the apex of the jump, before lashing out with the extra limb and sending the ball howling away from them.

A second limb burst from his back as Midoriya fell, both plunging into the dirt and lowering him like a spider's legs before he retracted them. The holes they had come through, which hadn't released even a drop of blood, sealed shut immediately after, leaving no trace that other than the rough holes in the ground as Midoriya hung his gym shirt around his shoulders.

And not once through the complicated combination of motions, had any part of his body left the circle. He breathed out, looking tranquil at the gaping faces around him. Shouta couldn't find it in him to blame the class, minus the son of Endeavor, the blond haired boy wearing his uniform against regulations (another thing he was going to ignore, since who actually gave a damn about that at UA of all places?) and the blue-purple haired girl who had been standing next to Midoriya. That had been a lot of actions Midoriya had mixed together for that throw, and in his head, Shouta silently admitted it  _ was _ impressive… for a student on their first day.

Aizawa held up the phone, showing the distance of 967 meters. Just under a kilometer, that was more than he expected, if he was honest.

"That looked like fun!" The pink skinned girl squealed, "I want to try!"

Fun.  _ Fun _ . Hero work wasn't  _ fun _ . One wrong move and you died, or someone whose life was in your hands died or they were forever traumatized and  _ you  _ had to live with your failure.

"If you think that's fun," Shouta said, "Then get ready, because we're going to be using your Quirks in a series of tests today. Despite what the schools taught you,  _ not _ all men are created equal anymore. People with Quirks like Midoriya's will stand out in a crowd, as will people with strong Emitter Quirks. If you don't have those, you're going to have to work hard to stay on the curve-"

"What-"

"-and even a 'bad' or 'weak' Quirk can be devastating when used correctly," Shouta continued, "it can let you stay even with those gifted with great power… if they don't train, and if you give it everything you've got. And that's what we're testing today, Plus Ultra means 'further beyond' in Latin. You're gonna have to go as far as you can in these tests, because if you don't, I'm moving you down to General Studies, no questions or second chances. There are plenty of students who didn't get into the Hero Course who would love your position. Prove to me you have the potential to be heroes. Am I understood?"

Everyone nodded, tense.

"Good," Shouta said, "I was worried someone would complain it was unfair." 

" _ Life _ can be unfair sometimes," Midoriya said, sounding slightly bitter.

"Exactly," Shouta grinned under his scarf. The kid was going to be a problem, he could tell, but Shouta couldn't help but take a shine to him.

\--- X  **Touka** X---

Touka watched Izuku walk back towards them, slipping his arms back into his gym shirt once it was clear he wasn't going to need his Kagune soon. She took a moment to appreciate the chiseled muscles of his chest, lithe and well defined. To some extent, they were all like that, but Izuku probably had it most obviously. He didn't need to watch his calorie intake, and even if he wasn't training every day (and he WAS), Solitaire was a wraith, a ghost almost in his movements.

And Izuku wondered where the Grim Reaper title came from. 

"Wow," the pink skinned girl said, "What do you have to do to get a figure like that?"

Not eat much, "Train. A lot."

"Yeah," a boy with red hair and sharp teeth said, punching his fists together, "Gotta work hard for it, Mina!"

"I  _ do _ train," 'Mina' whined, "You don't see me looking like him or you, Kiri!"

"Part of it's my Quirk," Izuku said as he approached them, "like I said, enhanced biology, my muscles are tightly packed. I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way, and this is Kirishima Touka."

Mina started giggling, pointing at Touka and then the red head, before doing it again. Finally, Touka snapped, over the bang of Bakugo giving his throw, "What?"

"Kiri here is Kirishima Ejiro!" Mina said between laughs, patting him on the shoulder, "I didn't realize we had two Kirishimas in the class!"

Touka tried to hide the pain from that statement. Two Kirishimas. With Dad in Tartarus for another two years, her and Ayato were the two Kirishimas. She had promised Dad, the night before his rampage, that she would take care of Ayato, and instead he was gone, "It's not that funny!"

Mina stopped laughing at the bite in the words, her black and yellow eyes running up Touka's body as she did. Then Izuku chuckled, "Yeah, that is pretty funny. What should I call you then, because Touka is Touka."

"Call me whatever you want," the redhead said with a grin, "Kiri's fine, so's Ejiro or just Kirishima. Whatever works out for you, man. So, you work out a lot?"

"When I'm not reading or doing Quirk Analysis," Izuku said, sitting down and pulling his journal from… somewhere. Seven years of knowing each other, and Touka wasn't any closer to figuring out where he kept that thing when it wasn't in use than she was the day they met.

"What do you like to read?" Mina asked in curiosity, "No, wait I know, horror! With the creepy tentacle thing you've got going on-"

"Only when I'm in a  _ really _ bad place," Izuku laughed. Touka caught Bakugo's eye, returning the grim smile of his lips with her own. Why would Izuku like horror like that, he was living one, "No, I read a lot of old comics. Superman, Spiderman, X-Men…"

"Kirishima!" Aizawa called, nodding to the circle, "Your go.

Touka nodded, and then hesitated. Aizawa sighed, "Yes, you… should have stuck one of you in 1-B…"

Touka took the ball, tossing it up into the air before activating her Quirk. Purple lightning crackled along her body as she wound up, before it shifted to red as she threw the ball as hard and as far as she could. A loud crack echoed, rattling the fence as she let the ball sail away from her and then dropped her arm and turned around…

To a girl squating on the ground clutching her ears, blood leaking down from one as Izuku crouched beside her with flared kakugan… shit…

"Izuku?"

"You ruptured an eardrum," Izuku said, throwing an arm around his shoulders and lifting the girl up into a bridal carry, "I'll be right back, I'm bringing her to Recovery Girl."

Aizawa nodded, sighing and typing into his phone, scratching his cheek as Izuku took off, "Alright, we'll keep going through the students, then take a ten minute break if they aren't back by then. Ashido, you're up."

\---

Kaminari Denki was fifteen years old, and having an existential crisis as their teacher, though apparently that could change REALLY quickly if he didn't do well on these tests, held up the phone showing 735.2 meters. There was another electricity user in the class, she was a cute girl, and she was able to use her Quirk to do something Denki wasn't sure he could. 

So yeah, crisis about his existence.

"Kaminari," Teach said after the pink skinned girl got a 304 meter throw, "You're up."

Denki stepped into the circle as a robot rushed towards him with the ball. Picking it up, Denki swallowed reluctantly before pulling back the arm and throwing the ball as hard as he could, activating his Quirk the moment it left his hand so the ball was launched forward from the discharge. Narukami did that sometimes, with metal balls or rods. Railguning, he had called it in an interview a couple of years ago.

The ball ripped away from him with a bang so loud sent his ears ringing and a blast that Denki staggering towards the others, Electrification still on. The blue-purple haired girl lashed out, grabbing him and the electricity around Denki changed from bright yellow to purple before fading away as he had the chance to deactivate his Quirk, "Thanks! I'm Kaminari Denki."

"Kirishima Touka," Touka said curtly as the green haired boy landed back near them, walking forward with a missing shirt, "I thought you were bringing that rock girl to Recovery Girl."

"She's not made of ro-"

"Rock and Roll, Izuku," Touka sighed. Ah, damn. Struck out before he even had a chance to try at bat. Still, Izuku was lucky, so good for him, "Anyways, what happened… and where's your shirt?

"Uh," Izuku rubbed his head through his hair, "You see…"

\--- X Izuku X---

Izuku was used to disgusting smells, his hunting methods often saw him pass through the Twenty Seventh, which smelled foul, and the smell of a body releasing it's bowls as he ate wasn't unheard of. When you had senses that put most predator species on the planet to shame, you got used to filtering out  _ most  _ of them for your own sanity. He wasn't normally one for swearing (he left that to Touka and Kacchan, who collectively used up the entire swear supply of everyone Izuku knew well), but he had learned quickly that sensory overload was a bitch.

That fly buzzing on the wall? Too loud. The stench of sake on someone after a night of drinking? Too pungent. The feeling of clothes brushing against his skin? Too coarse.

All of those things to say that while he was exactly pleased with the girl vomiting all over his shirt, he also couldn't blame her. Izuku slowed, staring down at her, "Are you alright?"

"You were movin' too fast," she slurred, bile dripping from the corner of her lips.

"Sorry," Izuku apologized, "I wanted to get you to Recover Girl as quickly as possible so you didn't get kicked out of the Hero Course over something like this, but I guess I'm just making it worse for you."

"Ya think he'll really kick us out?" The girl said as the continued at a much slower pace.

"I can't say," Izuku said, "but if he would, I'd hope he'd be fair enough to accept that you had to go to the nurse."

"You're a strange guy," the girl said, looking up at him through her half lidded eyes, "We don't even know each other's names, and you're worried I'll get kicked out?"

"You deserve to be here," Izuku said, "Life might be unfair, but it  _ is  _ completely unfair for Aizawa-Sensei to take away our place at UA after we passed the test to get in. That was done by a panel, wasn't it? Why is he allowed to make that decision on his own?"

"Thanks," she said, "I'm Jiro Kyoka, by the way. Sorry for puking on your shirt."

"Midoriya Izuku," Izuku said, "and it's fi-"

Before Izuku could finish, a pair of low set droids rushed towards them with a stretcher, one speaking  **Please deposit the injured student on the stretcher. We'll bring her to Recovery Girl.**

Izuku blinked, before lowering Jiro onto the stretcher and stepping back, taking off his shirt and handing it to one of the robots, "I'll see you later… and I'll talk to the Principal if he does kick you out. It's not fair at all."

"Thanks," Kyoka said, "You're a good guy, Midoriya."

No. No, he really wasn't. He was a bad guy trying to do the right thing.

\--- X  **Mail** X---

Quirk Appraisal Test Results (Priority Two).

To: Nezu

From: Aizawa Shouta (Eraserhead)

#1 Yaoyorozu Momo 

#2 Midoriya Izuku

#3 Todoroki Shoto

#4 Bakugo Katsuki

#5 Iida Tenya

#6 Tokoyami Fumikage 

#7 Kirishima Touka

#8 Shoji Mezo

#9 Ojiro Mashirao

#10 Kirishima Ejiro

#11 Ashido Mina

#12 Asui Tsuyu

#13 Sero Hanta

#14 Uraraka Ochako 

#15 Sato Rikido

#16 Kaminari Denki 

#17 Aoyama Yuga

#18 Koda Koji

#19 Hagakure Toru 

#20 Jiro Kyoka 

Suggested transfers-

**Alert! Aizawa's Test (Priority One)**

**To: Nezu**

**From: Shūzenji Chiyo.**

**If Shouta has recommended the transfer of Jiro Kyoka, I'm going to request you countermand it. She wasn't able to participate due to injuries accidentally inflicted by her classmates. I would hope he would remember his own weakness to sense based attacks, but he doesn't always seem to think of these things.**

-None.

\--- X  **Izuku** X---

_ "You need money for the suit, Jester~?" Izuku breathed in at Itori's teasing words, before nodding, "Good, there are a few bounties that came in recently-" _

_ "I'm not doing them if they didn't do anything to really deserve it," Izuku said without missing a beat. _

_ "I know, I know," Itori said, playing with her red hair as she walked towards an inconspicuous section of Helter Skelter, pressing down on it so it flipped around to reveal the bounty board, she took three off, "but these three really do deserve it. One attempted to kidnap a young girl in the care of the Shi-" _

\--- X  **AN** X---

Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?


	4. Interlude I: A Clown and her Patrons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keeping with the proud tradition of Psycho derping it up and forgetting to mention something in the AN of a chapter, yes, Izuku not liking horror was a deliberate choice to differentiate him from Kaneki and stress they're different characters who have lived different lives.

\---X Itori X---

Itori watched Jester stare at the bounty with a dark look on his face, chewing the inside of his cheek with flared kakugan. Finally she reached out, tugging his cheek like an older sister teasing her brother, "You know, you don't have to do the job if you don't want to. There are plenty of others who will find him, and the brooding hero look doesn't work on you."

"It's not that," Jester said, batting away the hand. Itori hid the smirk as she turned and grabbed a bottle, pouring the contents into a shot glass and pushing it towards the young man. Jester handed her a two thousand yen note and threw back his head, swallowed the contents and putting the glass on the table, "better. It's still got a strange aftertaste, but it doesn't make me sick anymore. Anyways, what bugs me is how little information there is. There's not even a way to contact the issuer to get more information."

"They say the current leader of the Shie Hassaikai is a strange one," Itori said, "even in these strange times. He's heavily mysophobic, insisting all of the members who regularly interact with him wear masks, and he wears gloves everywhere. More?"

Jester shook his head, before pausing and nodding, letting Itori pour the contents of the bottle into six shot glasses, downing the first one the minute she was done, "That's not going to make this job easy. I barely have a location to start. Setagaya is a big enough place on its own, and that's assuming the man hasn't gone to ground in the Twenty Seventh."

"But you can do it."

"Cast a big enough web and you can catch anyone," Jester said, downing the next shot of bloodwine, "I'll have to ask Uta to take a raincheck on the payment for the outfit, though. There's no way I'll find this man before my first Heroics Class."

"I'll call you if anything comes my way," Itori said as Jester continued to down the drinks, finally standing after the last with no sign of intoxication. Well, that had failed, "but I'll want a cut of the profit of course." 

"Yeah," Jester nodded, walking towards a full wall painting before pausing, "Uta's coming."

"Good," Itori said with a smile, "I haven't seen him in a while."

"I heard you," Uta said, stepping into Helter Skelter, "and yes, I will put it on a tab, Jester. But I'm going to hold on to the pièce de résistance until you pay. It wasn't cheap to get by any stretch of the imagination."

Jester nodded, pulling the picture aside and pressing the brick that opened a tunnel to the Twenty Seventh, vanishing into the darkness as the wall slid shut behind him. Itori busied herself making Uta's preferred cocktail and, when they were sure Jester was far enough away, began to cackle. Oh, no matter which way this went, it was going to be fun to watch Jester!

\---X  **Giran** X---

Across Tokyo, there were maybe five places Okuta "Giran" Kagero trusted to do dealings. It was understandable, in his opinion. He generally worked out of Yokohama because he didn't want to risk bringing All Might down on his head if an operation against someone he had sold information to went down. Even with contracts that worked out of Tokyo, like Knuckleduster, he preferred to stay out of the city whenever possible.

Occasionally, though, there were those jobs with paychecks so ludicrously big that you put your reservations aside, sat your ass down on a train or drove the half an hour into Tokyo. And you needed some place to meet clientele when that happened.

That was where the bar Helter Skelter came in. It had several things going for it, first off, it was as close to a neutral zone as you were going to find in this world. Vigilantes, Mercenary, Villain (though the line between those three was so muddled in this day that it was often hard to tell the difference. Damn All Might made it so you were either a Pro Hero, or scum in the eyes of the law. There had been shades of grey, once.) were allowed here and the owner Itori Damned-If-You-Could-Find-Her-Last-Name didn't allow rivalries between gangs to spill over in the bar. Normally, that was an adorable idea, but considering she seemed to have the boogieman of Tokyo's underground on some sort of leash, nobody wanted to test it. Too many people who had been taken down by the Reaper had their bounties claimed by Itori. It was also one of the only freely accessible locations in Nakano with access to the Twenty Seventh if a raid went down.

Still, any place named after a term associated with an infamous murder probably shouldn't be trusted too much. Even if she was 'just' a Beatles fan, you'd think she'd pick  _ any _ other song.

"Giran!" Itori said with a smile as he walked in, not looking up from where she was serving a chuckling, tattooed figure at the bar to respond to him, "You should have sent a warning you were coming to Tokyo, I would have prepared for you!"

That didn't bode well for any-fucking-thing, in his opinion, "Hello, Itori. Whose this?"

"This?" Itori nodded at the man who looked up with a face like running wax, "This is No Face. We're old friends."

"Hello," No Face said, finally stopping on an unassuming and unnoticeable business man's face, raising his drink before turning back to Itori, "as I was saying, I do wish Touka had let me make her outfit too."

"She's headstrong," Itori said, shaking her head, "What do you need, Giran?"

"I'm just passing through," Giran said, pulling out a flare and walking towards the hidden door leading to the Twenty Seventh, "I have a client looking for people to join his group."

"Maybe I could help find you some?" Itori said, a nasty smirk on her face, "I know at least one person who's looking for work… though it depends on what the job is~"

"...five hundred thousand."

"Deal," Itori said, pulling open a safe and beginning to pull the money out. This could lead to the entire operation going up if she sold the information to the wrong person.

"The client," Giran said carefully, "is preparing for an attack on UA."

The grin on Itori's face as he took the money was very nearly enough for Giran to never return to Helter Skelter, "Oh, Reaper will  _ definitely  _ want in on that."

Fuck.

\--- X Himiko X---

Himiko giggled, playing with her knives and listening to the news report on her phone,  _ Four men were found dead in Kiyashi yesterday with their throats pierced. Authorities suspect that the Vigilante known as the Grim Reaper was involved. _

Nope! That was her. She wanted Reaper to notice her! The way he killed was like, like… like an artist with blood! He was like her, he had to be!

There was a bar they said he went to in Nakano, maybe if she went there, she'd be able to meet him and work with him? See how he did the beautiful painting in person?

\---X  **AN** X---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I decided to set up the Shie Hassaikai as a longer term plotline for Izuku. There's also some minor hidden foreshadowing I felt was clever, but might just be me being a bit egotistical.
> 
> Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I'm going to regain my sanity before working on Dragoon (and pray saying that didn't jinx it). I've had a hilariously hell of a week. Like seriously, family members discovering they had terminal cancer, that same family member dying from it less than two days later (don't try to empathize with me. I met the man once and don't care that he's gone, so the best way to empathize is to not care) and, what really makes it hell, finding excuses to avoid seeing my father since he came up for the funeral and a near mental breakdown as it appears I won't be able to (yeah, in case you can't tell, I don't like my father).

\--- X  **Izuku** X---

Izuku breathed in as footsteps came from the other side of the door. They were lighter than he expected for who it was, and the scent… it was power made into a smell, but stained with blood and gastric acid.

Before All Might stepped into the room for the first time, Izuku knew without a doubt, the Symbol of Peace was injured. It might only be for the moment, but the idol all of Japan worshipped was recovering from a severe wound. Maybe that's why he had suddenly decided to teach at UA, to hide his recovery?

Not that Izuku was complaining, he had long avoided Minato like the plague, and even dodged the tunnels of the Twenty Seventh below All Might's domain whenever possible. If the Twenty Seventh were where the truly desperate went, the Minato part was where the desperate amongst the desperate went. Not that All Might had ever been in the Twenty Seventh, as far as Izuku knew, it just wasn't worth the risk.

" **I am here, coming through the door like a hero!"** All Might boomed, essentially pelvic thrusting his way into the classroom. Oh…

Well…

Uh…

"What the fuck?" Touka muttered under her breath, causing Izuku to silently nod. Yeah, that about summed it up.

" **Welcome!** " All Might boomed, " **To Heroics 101! I'm sure you've all been waiting for this all day, so I'm not going to bore you with long speeches. Instead, we'll get right to the action. Grab your costume from the wall and get changing!** "

Izuku, like the rest of the class, did so with great haste, grabbing the briefcase assigned to his seat and heading towards the locker room. Cracking open the case, Izuku slipped out of his uniform with as much speed as possible, grabbing the first piece of the outfit.

It was a red body glove that covered his legs, torso, arms and neck and hair while leaving his back open to the air. It was best that way, so he could deploy his Kagune without damaging the outfit. A press of a button on a small remote that came with it saw the latex tighten around his body, not enough to restrict his breathing or movement, but enough that he wouldn't accidentally slip out of it in the middle of combat.

Over it, Izuku pulled a long red cloak that covered his entire body and head, the bottom deliberately cut to be ragged, and it was loose enough that when his Kagune came out, they would be hidden unless Izuku was ready for the attack. And finally, Izuku picked up the mask bone white mask, three slits on one side and a full eye hole on the other, though the strange material it was made of meant they were purely decorative, since it acted similar to a one way mirror and put it on, pulling the hood over his head as he let his kakugan flare. Staring into the mirror, a pair of hellish red eyes stared back at him from the impassive mask.

His powers were never going to make him the smiling All Might. They were never going to make him the unbreakable Endeavor. He was a hero that would scare people, and with this outfit, that was true.

"Ready?" Kacchan said, his own outfit on.

"Yes," Izuku said, wishing he had the two missing parts of his outfit, but turning to Katsuki anyways, "Let's do this."

\--- X  **Touka** X---

Touka slid on the purple coat, the baggy black shirt and pants she wore under it almost completely covered up as she tapped her steel toed and heeled combat boots against the ground. They weren't broken in yet, which was gonna make fighting kinda annoying. 

Her outfit wasn't extravagant, in fact, it could easily be mistaken for everyday wear. She hadn't wanted more, if it wasn't broke there was no need to fix it. It was part of the reason she had refused Uta's offer to make her outfit. He was… overly fond of latex, in her opinion. And while she wasn't going to  **complain** about Izuku in a latex body glove, it didn't mean she wanted one for herself. She just wasn't one to show off her body to the world.

Plus, you know, latex was a shitty conductor of electricity and that sucked when your Quirk involved absorbing and releasing electricity. So yeah, going with basic combat clothes with a wire mesh between the layers it was.

Stepping out of the locker room and pulling on the gloves she'd ordered, she took a moment to rake her eyes up and down Izuku's body. The cloaked boy silently moved the mantle, letting her see the glove underneath. Yep, looked good, "Ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be," Izuku said, falling into step with her before lowering his voice and leaning towards her a bit. Touka silently tilted her head towards him, giving him permission to bring his masked face next to her ear, his voice coming out of the holes in the bottom near his mask, "All Might is injured. Badly."

Touka's eyes widened, the one hidden by her hair jumping to Izuku's glowing red, "You're sure?"

"He smells of blood and acid," Izuku said, "I don't know how bad it is, and I still wouldn't fight him if you offered me several billion yen, but he must be here to recover."

Touka nodded silently. All Might was injured. The Symbol of Peace, the unstoppable hero… was injured. Something had managed to do that, and stay under the radar. 

That alone made Touka's hair stand on end with static electricity. What the hell could do that?

" **Look at you all!** " All Might boomed as they stepped out, not showing any sign of the injury that was apparently there, " **They say the clothes make the hero, and you're certainly proving it! Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what we're doing today, right?"**

There was a spattering of nods.

" **Well, we'll be doing a mock villain exercise! Two on two, you'll be facing each other! The villain team will be hidden in one of these buildings with a bomb, it's the heroes job to find them and either defeat them or get their hands on the bomb before time runs out! Now, let's quickly pick teams and who will be going first. I'm sure you're all anxious to get started** !"

Touka met Izuku's eyes again, and they nodded. If they were on the same team, whoever they were facing was in for a bad time.

\--- X  **Teams** X---

Teams

Team A: Kota Koji and Sero Hanata

Team B: Kirishima Ejiro and Kaminari Denki

Team C: Yaoyorozu Momo and Bakugo Katsuki

Team D: Iida Tenya and Todoroki Shoto

Team E: Jiro Kyoka and Tokoyami Fumikage

Team F: Midoriya Izuku and Kirishima Touka 

Team G: Rikido Sato and Hagakure Toru 

Team H: Ashido Mina and Aoyama Yuga

Team I: Asui Tsuyu and Uraraka Ochako 

Team J: Shoji Mezo and Ojiro Mashirao

First match

Heroes: Team I

Villains: Team F

\--- X  **Katsuki** X---

Katsuki leaned against the wall of the observation room, having taken off his bracers as he watched Izuku walk behind Touka, red crystals being thrown and digging into the cement of the wall as they went. Without missing a beat, or blinking, Katsuki deadpanned, "They've won."

"Isn't that… a bit hasty?" His partner for this exercise asked carefully, "the trial hasn't even started yet."

"No," Katsuki said, "You're throwing two students who have only had two days of classes together against a couple who have been friends since they were eight and dating since last year… though you didn't hear that last part from me."

Pinky cackled, "Oh, do they not like to admit it?"

"Kicks doesn't," Katsuki said, "but even if the Nerd wasn't my best friend and told me, he's my best friend and I can notice him changing how he acts. Anyways, the Nerd is also setting up for when they come in already, and if the Hero team doesn't take things slow… they're boned."

\---- X  **Tsu** X---

Asui Tsuyu, "Tsu" to her friends, immediately knew something was wrong the minute Uraraka and her stepped into the building where the mock exercise was happening. It wasn't hard to tell, when the emotionless mask of your classmate, and in this scenario "villain", was staring at you from across the hall, a red mantle covering him otherwise. 

And then the dark eye holes of his mask lit up, red flaring and staring at them as he stayed in place for a long moment. And then, as silently as a shadow, Midoriya turned and walked down the hall to the right.

Yep.  _ That _ boded well.

"I… that's kinda scary," Uraraka said.

"That's the point, I think," Tsu croaked, "He's using psychological warfare. Making it look like he doesn't care that we're here."

"What about the crystals?" Uraraka said, pointing at the crystals dug into the walls. Tsu approached one, carefully plucking it from the wall… and eyes widening as something between it and the crystal opposite it snapped. A bioluminescence began to appear in the crystals and Tsu threw the one on her away, jumping back as both of them detonated in a small explosion.

Bombs. Midoriya had laced the hallway with bombs. They didn't explode enough to kill them, or even seriously injure them, but definitely enough to stun them into submission long enough to wrap the capture tape around the two girls if they got hit with them.

Midoriya seemed to have a predilection for fighting dirty, apparently, since the wire to set them off seemed to be a couple of millimetres thick at best. They'd have to be careful to make their way through the explosives (well, Uraraka would. They were all at the same height, so Tsu could just wall crawl over them), ticking down the time they had to win.

"Be careful, kero," Tsu advised with a ribbit, beginning to crawl over the first, well, second explosive until she hit an angle where she could see the wire, a dull red when light actually hit it, and dropped her tongue so it was on an even level with the wire, "it's right there."

"Right," Uraraka nodded, carefully stepping over the wire. Slowly, but surely they made their way through the bombs. Half way through the field, they discovered how big of a trap they had walked into.

Touka flew from the opposite side, lightning crackling as she twirled a discarded pipe like a baton and then, without hesitating, threw it across the hall in an explosion of electricity, snapping every wire.

"Uraraka!" Tsu wrapped her tongue around her partner, who immediately activated her Quirk on herself and let Tsu reel her up as the bottom half of the hallway went off in a series of micro explosions.

\--- X  **Katsuki** X---

"Well," Katsuki drawled, "They actually managed to dodge stage one."

"Isn't… isn't that bit much?" Someone asked.

"Nah," Katsuki waved his hand dismissively, "The Nerd woulda used more Bomber RC cells if he was actually trying to hurt them. Made the blasts bigger. He was just trying to knock them out so they could take an easy win. Guess it makes sense it wouldn't work, they did make it into UA's hero course, so they can't be completely useless."

"That's… a bit harsh," Ponytail said.

"It's how it is," Katsuki said, "You've got main characters and you've got extras. You hear about heroes like Endeavour and Hawks all the time, but when was the last time you heard about heroes in the four or five hundreds? Yeah, occasionally you get heroes like Manual or Renji who chose to be lower ranked for some moronic reasons or are too busy heading a personal case to up their ranking, but it's not normally like that. You're low because you don't have what it takes to be high."

"Renji?" Pinky asked.

"Fuck," Katsuki hissed between gritted teeth, "Narukami. Kicks' Uncle."

"Touka's Narukami's niece!?" Sparks asked, head whipping back towards the screen, "No wonder she's so good with her electricity Quirk!"

"Renji's been busy the last few years," Katsuki said, "He gave us some pointers when he came home to recover from an injury, but most of what you see from the three of us training on our own."

"Yeah, isn't Narukami based out of Nakano?" 

"No, his agency is in Mustafu," Katsuki said, "He's just been running a long term mission in Tokyo."

Though how the hell he expected to find the Shit when Izuku couldn't… not that Renji knew Izuku had looked.

\--- X  **Ochako** X---

Ochako choked back the nausea as Tsu dropped her and jumped towards Touka. Midoriya stepped out from the other side of the hallway, revealing that he hadn't gone as far as they thought, and took the kick with his left wrist. Red spikes exploded from under his cloak, swinging for Tsu as she bounded away. 

For a moment the two teams stared off, Midoriya and Touka both on their feet while Ochako and Tsu were on the ground. If they attacked, Ochako wouldn't be able to dodge.

Instead Midoriya launched a small torrent of spikes at the ground between them, ripping up the ground, before turning and following Touka away from them. Tense silence fell before the whistling of a dozen or more darts echoed from the way they went.

"They're trying to play a delay game," Tsu ribbitted, "They don't need to beat us to win, they just need to keep us- what are you doing?"

Ochako lifted up a large chunk of cement with her Quirk, before spinning and discus throwing it at the field of shards, pressing her fingers together, the pads of her fingers flashing pink, "Release!"

It sailed across the space without any resistance, nothing snapped and no explosions went off. Yeah, that made sense, "They're trying to make us scared of the crystals. Now that we know they can explode we'd be scared to cross it, and once we finally were brave enough to…"

"We'd know that not all the crystals explode," Tsu said, following Ochako across the field, "so we'd be unsure whenever we came to the next set. They're very sneaky."

Turning, they stared at the hallway where Midoriya and Touka had gone, eyes landing on the square of crystals embedded halfway through it, Midoriya sitting on a decayed couch. As they stopped, he tilted his head.

He was really good at messing with people's heads by acting like he wasn't taking them seriously, she'd admit that. Still, all she had to do was land five fingers on him and they'd be able to wrap the capture tape around him.

Picking up the same piece of rubble, Ochako threw it again, repeating the release and watching the crystals explode. Nodding to Tsu, they both rushed in towards Midoriya, keeping an eye out for Touka and not seeing her. Maybe she was with the bomb?

\--- X  **Katsuki** X---

"They're playing with them," Half-and-Half said, and Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek.

Yeah, if there was any difference between Izuku and Solitaire (and to this day, Katsuki wasn't sure if they were separate personalities sharing a body or just Izuku behaving differently) it was that. Solitaire, from the few times he had been caught on camera, was dexterous but ended fights quickly as he had spent hours stalking them normally, taking out his prey as quickly as possible and then vanishing into the Twenty Seventh to eat.

Izuku, however, had a flair for the dramatic. Toying with people he was fighting until the trap snapped shut and he beat you. And the trap was about to snap shut for the two girls.

"That's how the Nerd is," Katsuki said, "He likes to play a bit if things aren't serious, give his opponent some time to show off or get their practice in. Same reason he hasn't said a word since the trial started. But him and Kicks have already won."

"They're not with the bomb," Glasses said.

"Yeah," Katsuki shrugged, "but those two… they're not gonna see the bomb. Izuku and Touka are gonna wrap things up here. It's gonna get brutal, those two… no, the three of us, overwhelming force is what we do best. Izuku might like his tricks and traps and skulking around, but he's a beatstick just as much as me or Touka when push comes to shove. He's just a bit… lazy isn't the right word for it, but he likes to tire people out so he can finish it with as little force as necessary on his end. The only one of our friends who won't just pummel you into the ground is Hide, really, and he makes up for it by fighting dirty in ways that makes Izuku look good."

Of course, that didn't mean Katsuki or Touka was adverse to fighting dirty if the chance came. You didn't come out of a decade long friendship with Nagachika Hideyoshi without learning that if you weren't cheating, you weren't trying.

\--- X  **Izuku** X---

"So," Izuku purred, breaking his self imposed silence for the first time as both girls approached him, "You got through the crystals faster than I expected, I'll admit that."

And then, faster than they could respond, Izuku planted his hands on the back of the couch, used it as a stand for him to flip off of, and then kicked the entire thing at the two girls, who dove out of the way, "Now!"

Touka kicked off from where she was clinging to the wall above the door, the clawed gloves helping her hold on. Ozone bit the air as she came down towards Uraraka, the pink girl barely rolling out of the way.

Right into the path of the shards of RC cells Izuku threw at her. Uraraka squawked as they embedded themselves around her, before Touka closed the space in a flurry of kicks that forced the girl back, swinging for Touka with open handed strikes.

At the same time, Asui jumped at Izuku, feet angled to smash into him. Izuku wrapped his Ukaku around his arm, blocking with the mass of liquid muscle… and then released his Rinkaku in a blur of motion, grabbing Asui by the leg as throwing her towards the melee going on, shaking off the pain in his arm as he dodged a desperate tongue strike. Wrapping his other wing around the other arm, he changed towards them, firing a group of crystals as he went and watching Touka dodge them without looking, before diving in and driving her boot into Asui's gut at the same time the frog girl wrapped her tongue around Touka.

It was a bad move.

Muscles spasmed as the current launched through Asui, sending her splaying out and letting Touka bodycheck her to the ground and wrap the capture tape around her arms.

" **_Asui has been eliminated_ ** !" All Might boomed in their ears. Uraraka looked between the two of them, worrying her lip… before rushing at Izuku with a stretched arm. Yet again, a bad move.

Izuku stepped to the side, less than a second before Uraraka's hand touched him, wrapping his Rinkaku around her wrists before digging them into the ground and held her down as he retracted his Ukaku from his arms and pulled out the capture tape, wrapping it around her arm gently, "Sorry."

" **_Uraraka has been eliminated, the Villain Team Wins!_ ** " All Might continued as Izuku retracted his Kagune and reached down to offer Uraraka a hand up.

"You did really well" Izuku praised, slipping off his mask so she could see the honest smile on his face, "I didn't expect you two to get through the second or third field so quickly! Using the rubble I created to do it, that was ingenious!"

"Thanks," Uraraka said, wincing as she stood up and rubbing her jaw, which had collided with the ground when Izuku pinned her, "but I don't feel like I did well… ow…"

"I have a lot more training then you," Izuku said, "so I'm really not a good measuring stick. You did great, trust me."

\--- X  **Toshinori** X---

Toshinori watched Midoriya step into the observation room with Asui on his back, the mask he had been wearing hanging around his neck as he helped the girl down onto a chair, "Are you alright?"

"Ye'," Asui nodded, wincing, " tongue i' ju't a bit numb…"

"Sorry," Touka said, not sounding at all apologetic, "Wasn't expecting you to wrap your tongue around me while I was amped up."

"Touka," Izuku sighed.

"Sorry," Touka repeated, this time a bit of false guilt leaking in, which was apparently enough for Midoriya. 

" **First things first,** " Toshinori said, " **I want the class, including those who were in the exercise, to pick a MVP.** "

Most of the class, without blinking or hesitating, pointed towards Midoriya. The only exception, ironically, was Midoriya himself. 

He pointed at Uraraka. And then blinked in confusion as he noticed the fingers pointing at him and swiftly pulled his mask up as a blush exploded across his face, "Me? Why me?"

"You had a pretty commanding hold on the match the entire time," Todoroki observed.

"Uraraka figured out two of the four tricks immediately!" Midoriya insisted.

"But you still set up those tricks," Uraraka said, "You were never on the run because we were beating you, you were doing it to set up another trap. We lost once you two actually bothered to fight us."

"But… but-" Midoriya continued, "I'm… it wasn't-"

"Ignore him," Bakugo sighed as Touka moved Midoriya to sit down, "He's got issues when it comes to getting praised. You'll just short circuit his brain more."

"I- I- I just-" Midoriya continued, "I didn't do anything special, I just stood around!"

"Yeah," Touka said, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she patted him on the shoulder, "Whatever you say, Izuku."

That… was something that they were gonna have to deal with, because that type of reaction wasn't healthy or normal.

\---X Itori X---

Itori looked up as the backdoor swung open, a wide grin spreading across her face as the boy with a furred coat stepped into Helter Skelter, "Reaper! Just the boy I was looking for."

"I could tell that from the call," Kirishima Ayato said, the black skulled mask folding away from his face to show the scowl on his face, "So, what do you need?"

"There's a job about UA," Itori said, "and if I had to guess, given the specifics of it, there's a fifty percent chance Izuku will be there…"

"Really," Ayato said, his scowl growing lighter as he sat down, eyes staring at her, "Tell me about this job…"

  
  


\--- X AN X---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, kinda a major revelation in this chapter, beyond Izuku's mind breaking at the idea people would list him as MVP. 
> 
> Next chapter we see BakuMomo go at it against [Spoilers Expunged], Izuku's brain attempt to reboot so he can give his own commentary and [Spoilers Expunged again]. Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?
> 
> \--


End file.
